A new message from your friends at People For the American Way.
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People For Member,

We lost a battle – for now – to change the Senate filibuster in order to
pass voting rights legislation. It’s a tough loss.

Remember, however, that it’s a setback, not the end of our fight. History
is on our side and, while federal legislation was always the quickest and
most comprehensive way to shore up voting rights and secure our democracy,
there are still many things we can do in the days to come to protect the
right to vote and ensure the survival of our democracy.

Before I get into the path ahead, let me first say THANK YOU for your part
in the movement we built over the past few years.

Because of our movement and our tenacious organizing, we lost last night
by a mere TWO VOTES in the Senate. And until fairly recently, the number
of Senate Democrats opposed to changing or doing away with the filibuster
to pass voting rights was not limited to Sens. Manchin and Sinema. There
were perhaps a dozen Democratic senators whose opposition was less vocal
who we were able to win over in the end. And up until a few short weeks
ago, the Biden administration did not support the rule change, but we
succeeded in enlisting the full energy of the White House in our fight.

We also permeated the culture in profound ways – even getting influential
voices in professional sports to weigh in on the need to protect voting
rights. NFL team owners were sending letters to Sen. Manchin urging him to
do what was necessary to pass voting rights legislation. On MLK Day, NBA
play-by-play announcers were calling for passage of the voting rights
bills to combat state-level voter suppression.

It’s important to remember that the filibuster’s unsavory history of
blocking anti-lynching and civil rights legislation wasn’t the end of the
story for those laws. The movements persisted and those bills eventually
passed. The filibuster delayed but did not defeat the long arc of the
moral universe bending towards justice.

Now that we’ve built this incredible national movement, it’s our job to
make sure we preserve its energy and focus it on the fights we still can
win.

So, what’s next...

First and foremost, we need to realize that the best antidote to voter
suppression is massive voter turnout. With your continued support, People
For’s nonpartisan Defend the Black Vote program will aim to increase
turnout among the very group most aggressively targeted for
disenfranchisement by the Far Right.

On the electoral side, we need to use this election year to expand the
Democratic Senate majority and reduce the power of those two holdout
senators. Some of our most important electoral efforts this year will
focus on protecting the few vulnerable Democrats – most notably Rev.
Raphael Warnock, who is also one of our most powerful voices for voting
rights and the need to defend democracy – and picking up crucial seats in
states like Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. If we achieve a net gain of just
two seats in the Senate, that will effectively neutralize Manchin and
Sinema’s misguided obstruction.

We need to continue the push for democracy-strengthening reforms – state
laws expanding voter access and, where appropriate, passage of the
National Popular Vote interstate compact. And we need to support efforts
to elect progressive state officials – especially secretaries of state –
who are often the first line of defense against attacks on voting rights
and efforts to subvert elections. We know Trump and the Far Right are
making a big play to install pro-Trump “vote counters” in these key
positions.

And we need to continue our push to maintain fair and independent courts.
Dozens of suits by Trump supporters sought to challenge the results of the
2020 election and they were universally rejected by the courts. Just as
the Trumpist Right now seeks to replace election officials with corrupt
partisan cronies willing to overturn the will of the people, you can bet
they’re eager to install judges who will be favorable to their voter
suppression schemes and potential challenges to legitimate election
results. And, even though it’s more of a long-term effort, we must remain
in constant pursuit of the goal of changing the balance of the Supreme
Court. Remember it’s the Roberts Court’s far-right majority that gutted
the Voting Rights Act not once but twice, laying the groundwork for the
voter suppression laws that started flying through Republican-controlled
state legislatures even before the 2020 election and Trump’s Big Lie.

There’s so much energy this movement can continue building and, as we saw
last night, that’s crucial. The road ahead will be long, but we are on the
right side of history. With determination, courage, and smart, innovative
strategies, we will prevail. We will defend democracy and preserve the
American Way.

Thanks again for all of your work and everything you continue to
contribute to this fight.

-- Ben Jealous, President

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